With the advent of the internet and the rise of social networks, more information is being created today than has ever been created previously in the history of our society. Unfortunately, the ease of availability of personal information that people freely share on social networks, professional networks, or through other networked media makes it relatively easy for hackers and people committing fraud to steal user's credentials and identity information. Moreover, because social networks encompass information about consumers and their friends, the vulnerability of one consumer impacts the vulnerability of their friends and vice versa in an interdependent relationship. The threat is amplified if one considers that a compromised Facebook login, for example, can be used to attack the multitude of websites on the Internet that support the use of Facebook Login as a credential to authenticate consumers at those sites. For instance, hacking a Facebook account can allow an imposter to impersonate a user at an enterprise website or mobile application where the enterprise accepts Facebook Connect Login as a trusted credential. The impersonator could also take over an account using data from the hacked account's profile or timeline. This puts consumers, merchants and financial institutions at risk on a global basis.
Unfortunately, many consumers willingly (and in most cases unwittingly) hand over personal data in exchange for a misperceived benefit that may be involved with a financial transaction. This personal information may be abused or sold to other marketers. Furthermore, the proliferation of mobile social networks, mobile payment systems, and virtual currency systems, has left many users exposed to cyber crime. This ultimately leaves many consumers feeling violated and distrustful of companies that offer legitimate products or services, and also distrustful of social platforms which otherwise provide useful services for communication and sharing among users.
In view of these issues, what are needed are improved tools, strategies, and techniques for evaluating the identities of different entities, to defend consumers and enterprises from social identity theft and fraud, and to assess risks associated with other entities based on analysis of social networking data.